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Economic Weekly: Inflation pressures remain steady over 2018

NZ Q4 CPI inflation was the key highlight last week, with annual inflation printing in line with market expectations and the RBNZ sectoral factor model (a measure of core annual inflation) remaining unchanged at 1.7%.  

This week is relatively quiet from a domestic perspective, but there will be plenty of action in offshore markets with a Fed policy announcement, further Brexit-related votes and headlines, Australian Q4 CPI inflation figures and potentially US Non-farm Payrolls and US Q4 GDP (US data releases may be delayed due to the US Government shutdown).

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Mark Smith

Senior Economist

Mark joined ASB in 2017, with over 20 years of public and private sector experience working as an economist in New Zealand and the UK.

His resume includes lengthy stints at ANZ and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and he has also worked at the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the New Zealand Transport Agency. Mark's areas of specialisation include interest rate strategy, macro-economic analysis and urban economics.

Born and bred in the Waikato, Mark studied at Waikato University where he graduated with a Master of Social Sciences, majoring in Economics.

Mark's key strengths are the ability to use his extensive experience, inquisitive nature, analytical ability, creativity and pragmatism to dig a little deeper and to deliver common sense solutions to tackle complex problems.

When not at work Mark likes to travel, keep fit and spend time with his friends and family.